Glenn J

Les, Claudius, I have to disagree with the rôle Les attributes to the Werftdivisionen. There were two Werftdivisionen, the I. in Kiel and the II. in Wilhelmshaven. There were the depôt organisation for the non commissioned personnel (Warrant Officers, NCOs and Ratings) primarily of the technical branches of the Navy including, machinists, stokers, tradesmen, medical personnel, writers and paymaster aspirants. They provided the initial recruit training for conscripts and volunteers. They further were the land based organisation for administrative purposes for the above mentioned personnel. Each Division was commanded by a Kapitän zur See. In a similar fashion, the I. and II. Matrosendivisionen were responsible for the seaman branch, navigators, signals branch etc. Regards Glenn

Chip, it has taken me the best part of six months to track down this guy's first name but perseverance pays off. Oberstleutnant Ludwig Schopp. Luckily for me, he was assigned to the Artillery Testing Commission in Berlin for a couple of years (1905-1906) whilst on the strength of Hohenzollernsches Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 13. Consequently he turned up in a Berlin address book of that year. Regards Glenn

Chris, the 46. Infanterie-Briade (Generalmajor Bernhard v. Watzdorf) of 23. Infanterie-Division was primarily responsible for clearing Dinant in August 1914: Schützen- (Füsilier-) Regiment "Prinz Georg" Nr. 108 16. Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 182 Sachsen in Großer Zeit speaks of heavy fighting, especially against the "heimattückische" (dastardly, insidious, perfidious) population of the town! Regards Glenn

Hi Jérôme, It is unclear to me why he changed his name. He is shown as Hauptmann Johann Pollak of the zweites Pesther Freiwilligen-Infanterie-Bataillon in the 1859 Schematismus and shown as Johann Polak on rejoining Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 65 in 1867. He is shown as Johann Pókay on entering the Königlich ungarsiche Leibgarde in 1869. He commanded Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 34 from 1882 to 1887 and his biography in that history does not mention his change of name. He was born in Pápa, Hungary and joined the insurgent Hungarian Army during the war of 1848/49. Following the Hungarian defeat, he joined Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 20 as a private soldier and there rose to the rank of Oberlieutenant. In 1859 he served sucessively in the Raab-Pressburger and zweites Pesther Freiwilligen-Infanterie-Bataillon, followed by service in Infantry regiments 5 and 65 until leaving for Mexican service in 1864. Promoted to Major in Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 5 in 1874 and to Oberstlieutenant and Commandant of the Armee-Schießschule in 1877. In 1877 he became the Reserve-Commandant of Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 25 and was promoted to Oberst on 10 November 1881. He bacame a Generalmajor and Commander of the 31. Infanterie-Brigade in 1887. He retired as a Feldmarschallieutenant in 1896. I think it may be the case that he "Hungarified" his name on joining the Königlich ungarsiche Leibgarde. Regards Glenn

Christer Easy part first: The Reichsheer Oberstleutnant was Hans Lange, later a char. Generalleutnant so not your man. No Lange is listed in FAR 33 in either the 1914 Army List or the Ehrenrangliste so he presumably transfered into FAR 33 during the war. The nearest match I have so far is an Hauptmann der Reserve Karl Lange who served with FAR 76. Regards Glenn

Jason The Füsiler-Regiment Nr. 34 Leutnant was Kurt Hohenberg. I have come across no officer of the name of Manfred von Hohenberg either regular or reserve in LGR. 109. He is not listed in the Offizier-Stammliste published in 1925 or the officers's association list dated 1936. There were regular officers in the regiment named Freiherren von Meyern-Hohenberg of which only Gustav-Erich was a prewar regular of the right age group. He however was a Fahnenjunker and not an einjährig-Freiwilliger. There is, of course the possibility that the owner of your tunic was never commissioned. Regards Glenn

Thomas Seesoldat Regards Glenn

Bob Well at the back end of the nineteenth century the 4th Department was responsible for foreign fortress matters. The "Great General Staff" was the central organisation, that is the departments in Berlin; The General Staff was the remainder of the staff at corps and divisional level in peacetime. Regards Glenn

Possibly Geheimer und Oberkriegsgerichtsrat Dr. Franz Medicus of X. Armeekorps? Collar patches look good for a Military Official and he appears to be wearing one rosette on the field officer pattern boards and a cypher (beamten shield)? Regards Glenn

Nice photograph but not a General Officer. He is an Oberst. The cypher looks like an "A" surmounted by a crown and the shoulder board appears to have white underlay. Perhaps the Kaiser Alexander Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 1? Regards Glenn

Signed by Oberstlieutenant z.D. Karl Gustav Arthur v. Erichsen, commander of 2. Bataillon Herzogl. Braunschw. Landwehr-Regiment Nr. 92 since 5 July 1872. He had been awarded the EK1 as commander of II./I.R. 92 during the Franco-German War. Regards Glenn

No, Major Opitz survived the war, becoming in turn the commander of FAR 9 and ARKO 74. Promoted char. Generalmajor on 5 August 1920, he died in 1940. Regards Glenn

According to the Ehrenmal des preußischen Offizier-Korps, Major Kurt Gudewill was still serving with Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 9 at the time of his death on 22 August 1914 at Tirlemont. He was wounded on 18 August and died four days later. As he was not the commander of the regiment, I assume he was still commanding the II. Abteilung of the regiment. Mike Major Rudolf Rogge was commanding I./FAR 9 and Major Kurt Gudewill was commanding II./FAR 9. Major Erich Opitz was the senior Major or second in command denoted by the St (Stab). Regards Glenn

Leutnant Kummer of G.R. 10 sounds good. He was the recipient of The Ehrenmedaille für Verdienste im Kriege. As Chip pointed out, he was rather youthful to be in the 1914 Rangliste and in fact was promoted to Fähnrich on 19 Sep 14 and to Leutnant (provisionally without a Patent) on 20 Oct 14. He subsequently received a Patent as a Leutnant backdated to 19 Feb 13 and was promoted to Oberleutnant on 20 Jun 18 (20.6.18 Z4z). Regards Glenn

Scott I am not sure of a hard and fast rule but in the published army lists the spelling of Armee-Corps became Armee-Korps in 1893. Similarly, the spelling Cavallerie became Kavallerie at the same time. Regards Glenn

Hardy Not the Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 6 Poschinger; that was Ludwig Ritter v. Poschinger who retired as an Oberst in 1920. Regards Glenn

Jon that is General der Infanterie Hugo Hans v. Winterfeld, commanding General of the Gardekorps (8 October 1836 - 4 September 1898). Regards Glenn

Viliam according to Hans Rudolf v. Stein in the 1960 edition of the Zeitschrift für Heereskunde, Minenwerfer-Kompanie 208 was formed on 17 October 1915 as was subordinated to 8. Bayer. Reserve-Division. Regards Glenn

Jay I checked the regimental history again and still no mention of him. However...when I checked Ancestry.de for the Bavarian Army Stammrollen, Herr Misthilger's documents are there and show him as a member of the Minenwerfer-Kompanie of the Infanterie-Leibregiment and indeed killed on 30 April 1918 at Kemmel. After recruit training he entered the Leib-Regiment in the 7th Company on 25 July 1916. He was transfered to the Minenwerfer-Kompanie on 16 July 1917. He was awarded the EK2 on 24 December 1917 and was promoted to überzähliger (supernumerary) Gefreiter on 28 January 1918. Regards Glenn

Hi Chip I would say the determining factor is the wear of the Überrock with white shoulder straps and the silver Tresse (as per the Prussian pattern for their Schloßgarde-Kompanie). The cypher is rather circular surmounted by a crown. See plate 156 of "Das Deutsche Heer" by Pietsch, Knötel and Collas and this below also from Piestch. Regards Glenn

Timo Portepee-Unteroffizier Württemberg Schloßgarde-Kompanie Regards Glenn

Christer, A Johannes Herfurth was commissioned as a Leutnant der Reserve in 1. (Leib-) Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 100 with a Patent of 14.7.09 A. Regards Glenn

Jay I checked the rather huge history of the Leib-Regiment; The Minenwerfer-Kompagnie was a regimental asset and not a part of 1st Battalion. There are no casualties in the entire regiment who suffered mortal wounds or who were killed in action on 30 April 1918. Six members of the Minenwerfer-Kompagnie were fatally wounded or killed on 29 April 1918. The nearest match listed of those is an Infanterist Johann Mittermeier who succumbed to his wounds on 4 May 1918. Regards Glenn

Yes, but it will not answer the question. Transfers between Regiments were not published in the wartime MWB. Regards Glenn

He was commissioned into Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 155 on 6 April 1916. Regards Glenn